ABSTRACT
Rose further asserted that these men withdrew from the Brethren, but another appellant merely stated the issue had caused a lot of trouble, while Charles Doherty informed the Second Otago Board that membership did not cease upon engaging in combatant service. A slight difficulty did arise in September 1917, when the Third Wellington Board dismissed two Christadelphian claims on the basis that the Act required membership of a religious body prior to 1914, whereas the men concerned had been merely adherents. However, the appeals were swiftly re-assessed and granted after Allen instructed the boards to follow a section in the defeated Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill that would have made adherents eligible for exemption. Contentious issues were raised at his hearing by John Rigg, who only accepted exemption after the military representative warned him that 'unless scholar sign that paper the board has no option but to dismiss scholars appeal.
